Wolverhampton Wolfie-Doodles VS Newcastle Snuggle-Bugs

[Holden McGroin 6542]

1 hour ago, ewerk said:

 

Nah I think it's a control thing. If you think back to the early days of the takeover when there was no real support structure Eddie pretty much took on the dual role of manager and DoF. He was given much more control than any other PL manager out of necessity because there was no one else at the top of the club with any experience of football. Then Ashworth came along and I think a large part of the reason for him leaving was that Howe still retained more control than he would have liked. Now we have Mitchell in place who looks like he has been promised free reign of the usual DoF remit but has come up against Howe who isn't used to this and no longer has Mandy and the husband to go to directly. So now we have two major figures butting heads. This is up to Eales to mediate as he doesn't appear to have sat both men down together and explained the structure and more importantly he hasn't got buy in from both of them.

 

I suspect Eales spends most of his day on Xhamster with his office door locked. Grubby little salesman.

Edited September 16 by Holden McGroin

[RobElliott 1483]

Predictions for the game

 

2-1 win to us, we will start well, apart from Longstaff who will be shiiiiiite and Eddie wont start Tonali.

Popes ball distribution will be as good as Stevie Wonders but will pull off some worldie saves

Those cunts will get a goal, Eddie to rip into them at half time.

We will create nothing apart from 2 thunderbastards, probably from Schar and Barnes

 

Longstaff will get a 2 rating on BBC

 

Nailed on if you as me

[Holden McGroin 6542]

1 minute ago, RobElliott said:

Predictions for the game

 

2-1 win to us, we will start well, apart from Longstaff who will be shiiiiiite and Eddie wont start Tonali.

Popes ball distribution will be as good as Stevie Wonders but will pull off some worldie saves

Those cunts will get a goal, Eddie to rip into them at half time.

We will create nothing apart from 2 thunderbastards, probably from Schar and Barnes

 

Longstaff will get a 2 rating on BBC

 

Nailed on if you as me

 

[Dr Gloom 21846]

Just read the match thread through as watched the game in the boozer yesterday. Canny bit of bed-wetting going on. I thought we were much better than against Spurs. Controlled the first half and conceded an unlucky breakaway goal, Bruno and longstaff to blame for not tracking the man and losing the ball respectively. That happens.

 

Second half Wolves came like the home team playing with confidence, as you would expect being a goal up. Our subs were made at the right time but we took a while to regain control. In tne end we deserved the win. By no means a dominant performance but the stats back up what I saw with me eyes - we won on every metric. 
 

We’re still not fully firing but I’m seeing some improvement. The main issue is we’re not starting with all our best players. We will control games better with Barnes, Trippier and Tonali in the side.

 

Theres also an argument for starting willock over Joelinton. I love big Joe but he’s been below his best since the first game. 

[Holden McGroin 6542]

Just now, Dr Gloom said:

Just read the match thread through as watched the game in the boozer yesterday. Canny bit of bed-wetting going on. I thought we were much better than against Spurs. Controlled the first half and conceded an unlucky breakaway goal, Bruno and longstaff to blame for not tracking the man and losing the ball respectively. That happens.

 

Second half Wolves came like the home team playing with confidence, as you would expect being a goal up. Our subs were made at the right time but we took a while to regain control. In tne end we deserved the win. By no means a dominant performance but the stats back up what I saw with me eyes - we won on every metric. 
 

We’re still not fully firing but I’m seeing some improvement. The main issue is we’re not starting with all our best players. We will control games better with Barnes, Trippier and Tonali in the side.

 

Theres also an argument for starting willock over Joelinton. I love big Joe but he’s been below his best since the first game. 

yeah. I was thinking that myself and it’s a good option for Eddie to have.

 

willock-Bruno-Tonali seems to have a good balance.

[Kid Dynamite 7006]

14 hours ago, Holden McGroin said:

Or Howe walks. 
 

which will be a massive PR disaster for Mitchell.

Id be less worried about this if the England job wasn't up for grabs

[MrBass 2649]

3 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

Just read the match thread through as watched the game in the boozer yesterday. Canny bit of bed-wetting going on. I thought we were much better than against Spurs. Controlled the first half and conceded an unlucky breakaway goal, Bruno and longstaff to blame for not tracking the man and losing the ball respectively. That happens.

 

Second half Wolves came like the home team playing with confidence, as you would expect being a goal up. Our subs were made at the right time but we took a while to regain control. In tne end we deserved the win. By no means a dominant performance but the stats back up what I saw with me eyes - we won on every metric. 
 

We’re still not fully firing but I’m seeing some improvement. The main issue is we’re not starting with all our best players. We will control games better with Barnes, Trippier and Tonali in the side.

 

Theres also an argument for starting willock over Joelinton. I love big Joe but he’s been below his best since the first game. 

 

Aye, that's pretty much my take too, performance was much better than the first three games. Having Schär back in the side certainly helps. He should be starting Tonali over Longstaff though, and probably Tripps over Livs.

 

The Willock / Joelinton one is tricky as big Joe, when on his game, is a match winner, as is little Joe I suppose. Barnes is also screaming out to be in the starting lineup so there's that too. Nice problems to have and I'm glad it's not me picking the first 11! 

[Gemmill 44489]

15 hours ago, Gemmill said:

I think I'm finally ready to hear from the lads who thought we didn't need a centre half in the last window. 

 

 

 

 

[Holden McGroin 6542]

5 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

 

 

3 goals conceded in 4 games. Seems pretty good to me.

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3859]

33 minutes ago, Holden McGroin said:

 

You should be banned for using a gif from the American version of ghosts.

[Holden McGroin 6542]

3 minutes ago, Kevin Carr's Gloves said:

You should be banned for using a gif from the American version of ghosts.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Gemmill 44489]

13 minutes ago, Holden McGroin said:

3 goals conceded in 4 games. Seems pretty good to me.

 

Aye we look really well stocked with top 4 standard centre backs. No concerns whatsoever. 

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3859]

Just now, Holden McGroin said:

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Ghosts is a quality British sitcom. Your gif comes from the American version which should be removed from history and all participants killed and their bodies destroyed in acid.

[Holden McGroin 6542]

Just now, Gemmill said:

 

Aye we look really well stocked with top 4 standard centre backs. No concerns whatsoever. 

 

Our league 1 right winger could do with an upgrade.

[wykikitoon 19975]

I thought Joe early on was pretty solid and then just faded as the half went on.

[Gemmill 44489]

11 minutes ago, Holden McGroin said:

 

Our league 1 right winger could do with an upgrade.

 

You know you're talking shite. 

[Dr Gloom 21846]

20 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

 

Aye we look really well stocked with top 4 standard centre backs. No concerns whatsoever. 

 

defensively we've been pretty solid, even when krafth has been filling in. their goal yesterday came from mistakes by longstaff and then bruno. schar was blameless. we also looked much better building out from the back now scahr is back. i still think he's a better CD than guehi. 

 

the main issue has been lack of control in midfield and the press only coming in bursts of 10 to 20 minutes. we control periods of games, but have been unable to dominate a full 90 minutes yet this season.  i doubt spunking £70m on Guehi would have addressed that issue - I also hear he's been quite poor for palace so far this season. 

 

the issue is we're not playing with our best technicians. livramento has lots of quality (pace, energy, recovery runs etc), but he doesn't have trippier or schar's ability to build attacks from the back. we miss the passing sequences and combinations we used to do down our right side. so much of that is due to trippier's absence. 

 

i think we control games better if trippier, tonali and barnes start. barnes may not work as tirelessly as murphy, but he's streets ahead of him technically. he and gordon will both score 10 goals this season if they stay fit and eddie starts them both. 

 

and surely longstaff's time is finally up. again, a great worker, but he always need an extra touch and often our attacks slow or break down when it goes through him. it is so obvious tonali should play - i love how he doesn't even take a touch, just passes and moves every time. 

Edited September 16 by Dr Gloom

[Holden McGroin 6542]

15 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

 

defensively we've been pretty solid, even when krafth has been filling in. their goal yesterday came from mistakes by longstaff and then bruno. schar was blameless. we also looked much better building out from the back now scahr is back. i still think he's a better CD than guehi. 

 

the main issue has been lack of control in midfield and the press only coming in bursts of 10 to 20 minutes. we control periods of games, but have been unable to dominate a full 90 minutes yet this season.  i doubt spunking £70m on Guehi would have addressed that issue - I also hear he's been quite poor for palace so far this season. 

 

the issue is we're not playing with our best technicians. livramento has lots of quality (pace, energy, recovery runs etc), but he doesn't have trippier or schar's ability to build attacks from the back. we miss the passing sequences and combinations we used to do down our right side. so much of that is due to trippier's absence. 

 

i think we control games better if trippier, tonali and barnes start. barnes may not work as tirelessly as murphy, but he's streets ahead of him technically. he and gordon will both score 10 goals this season if they stay fit and eddie starts them both. 

 

and surely longstaff's time is finally up. again, a great worker, but he always need an extra touch and often our attacks slow or break down when it goes through him. it is so obvious tonali should play - i love how he doesn't even take a touch, just passes and moves every time. 

 

 

 

Blowing £70m on a defender not as good as Schar doesn't seem like good value. A new RW would immediately improve our team.

 

Anyway, we've done all this before. 

[Gemmill 44489]

You're making it impossible to even respect you. 

[sammynb 3353]

Tonali looked a bit leggy, so did Bruno - probably because they travelled and played both their international matches.

EH has made Bruno captain, so it's a given he starts, EH will always use the excuse that Tonali still isn't match fit because he's been out for so long - it's easier for him to select Ciggy.

Trippier's head is obviously all over the place, another easy excuse to start Tino over him.
No excuse to drop Barnes for Murphy, but wor Eddie is a loyal fucker.

 

On Tino and Hall, it looks like the overlap tactic has been ditched in favour of the fullbacks moving infield. There were quite a few occasions where Tino was on the left wing. That most likely why Murph was selected because he, like Miggy, will work his arse off and cover for the fullback.

Hall was limping like his legs had fallen off and Barnes struggled to find the enthusiasm to help out our defence. For the few moments Barnes moved to LB they couldn't move Murphy quick enough to cover the position.

[Toonpack 9293]

2 hours ago, ewerk said:

 

Nah I think it's a control thing. If you think back to the early days of the takeover when there was no real support structure Eddie pretty much took on the dual role of manager and DoF. He was given much more control than any other PL manager out of necessity because there was no one else at the top of the club with any experience of football. Then Ashworth came along and I think a large part of the reason for him leaving was that Howe still retained more control than he would have liked. Now we have Mitchell in place who looks like he has been promised free reign of the usual DoF remit but has come up against Howe who isn't used to this and no longer has Mandy and the husband to go to directly. So now we have two major figures butting heads. This is up to Eales to mediate as he doesn't appear to have sat both men down together and explained the structure and more importantly he hasn't got buy in from both of them.

 

Not buying that tbh. Outside of transfer window planning, as Eddie himself said (when asked about talking to Mitchell) "not this week, no, that's normal, we have different jobs", once the season is in flight Eddie's job is first team/squad coach/manager. They won't talk everyday, why should they and I wouldn't expect them to, it's not like Eddie needs to send in performance reports to "the boss" that's evidenced every week on the pitch. 

 

I suspect they'll only talk when setting up the strategy for January and around any specific targets. Seems some seem to think they should have adjoining offices and be coffee buddies.

 

Eddie seems full of praise for the performance guy, which is a Mitchell hire/associate.

 

I'm still firmly in the "it's all overblown" camp. The fact that they aren't speaking is not because they're huffy schoolgirls, it's because they don't need to, THAT is a good thing because Eddie is being allowed to get on with his job, without interference.

[Gemmill 44489]

1 minute ago, Toonpack said:

 

Not buying that tbh. Outside of transfer window planning, as Eddie himself said (when asked about talking to Mitchell) "not this week, no, that's normal, we have different jobs", once the season is in flight Eddie's job is first team/squad coach/manager. They won't talk everyday, why should they and I wouldn't expect them to, it's not like Eddie needs to send in performance reports to "the boss" that's evidenced every week on the pitch. 

 

I suspect they'll only talk when setting up the strategy for January and around any specific targets. Seems some seem to think they should have adjoining offices and be coffee buddies.

 

Eddie seems full of praise for the performance guy, which is a Mitchell hire/associate.

 

I'm still firmly in the "it's all overblown" camp. The fact that they aren't speaking is not because they're huffy schoolgirls, it's because they don't need to, THAT is a good thing because Eddie is being allowed to get on with his job, without interference.

 

I agree with a lot of this, but the one thing that is definitely weird is Howe isn't shutting it down. It would be so easy for him to just say "lads can I put this to bed please? There is no problem between me and Paul. We had a poor transfer window, we all accept that, but the window is shut, can we please now concentrate on this weekend's match". 

 

But he's not. He's being cagey and he's dancing around the issue when it comes up in questions. Howe is not a man that lacks in emotional intelligence, he knows exactly what he's doing with these responses. To me it looks like him refusing to take a backward step. 

 

[ewerk 30367]

4 minutes ago, Toonpack said:

 

Not buying that tbh. Outside of transfer window planning, as Eddie himself said (when asked about talking to Mitchell) "not this week, no, that's normal, we have different jobs", once the season is in flight Eddie's job is first team/squad coach/manager. They won't talk everyday, why should they and I wouldn't expect them to, it's not like Eddie needs to send in performance reports to "the boss" that's evidenced every week on the pitch. 

 

I suspect they'll only talk when setting up the strategy for January and around any specific targets. Seems some seem to think they should have adjoining offices and be coffee buddies.

 

Eddie seems full of praise for the performance guy, which is a Mitchell hire/associate.

 

I'm still firmly in the "it's all overblown" camp. The fact that they aren't speaking is not because they're huffy schoolgirls, it's because they don't need to, THAT is a good thing because Eddie is being allowed to get on with his job, without interference.

 

It was interesting to hear Sir Les saying how he'd be at the training ground most days when he was DoF at QPR. Obviously each have their own style but I would expect them to be in fairly close contact throughout the week. Though the international break may explain why they haven't spoken since the window closed.

[ewerk 30367]

Just now, Gemmill said:

 

I agree with a lot of this, but the one thing that is definitely weird is Howe isn't shutting it down. It would be so easy for him to just say "lads can I put this to bed please? There is no problem between me and Paul. We had a poor transfer window, we all accept that, but the window is shut, can we please now concentrate on this weekend's match". 

 

But he's not. He's being cagey and he's dancing around the issue when it comes up in questions. Howe is not a man that lacks in emotional intelligence, he knows exactly what he's doing with these responses. To me it looks like him refusing to take a backward step. 

 

 

Aye, he was asked again about it in the post-match interview and deliberately didn't draw a line under it.

[Gemmill 44489]

1 minute ago, ewerk said:

 

Aye, he was asked again about it in the post-match interview and deliberately didn't draw a line under it.

 

I haven't seen that interview, will see if I can find it.

 

What I will say is that if the same is happening this Friday when he does his Fulham press conference, then Eales isn't doing his job. He just needs to get them in a room and say "I'm not having this. What is the issue on your side Eddie, and what's the issue on yours, Paul?" 

 

Might be that they leave the room with Mitchell still saying that he thinks the old transfer policy wasn't fit for purpose, or might be that he explains exactly what he meant and Howe accepts it. As long as they come to an understanding and they leave the room both pulling in the same direction, then fine. But continuing like this where Howe is sending coded messages in interviews is a bit pathetic.